680 Presidential Addresses 



making the total of this fund, up to the 3<Dth of 

 June, 1903, approximately, $16,191,836. 



A gratifying disposition has been evinced by those 

 having unlawful inclosures of public land to remove 

 their fences. Nearly two million acres so inclosed 

 have been thrown open on demand. In but com- 

 paratively few cases has it been necessary to go into 

 court to accomplish this purpose. This work will 

 be vigorously prosecuted until all unlawful in- 

 closures have been removed. 



Experience has shown that in the Western States 

 themselves, as well as in the rest of the country, there 

 is widespread conviction that certain of the public- 

 land laws and the resulting administrative practice 

 no longer meet the present needs. The character 

 and uses of the remaining public lands differ widely 

 from those of the public lands which Congress had 

 especially in view when these laws were passed. The 

 rapidly increasing rate of disposal of the public lands 

 is not followed by a corresponding increase in home 

 building. There is a tendency to mass in large hold- 

 ings public lands, especially timber and grazing lands, 

 and thereby to retard settlement. I renew and em- 

 phasize my recommendation of last year that so far 

 as they are available for agriculture in its broadest 

 sense, and to whatever extent they may be reclaimed 

 under the national irrigation law, the remaining 

 public lands should be held rigidly for the home 

 builder. The attention of the Congress is especially 

 directed to the timber and stone law, the desert- 

 land law, and the commutation clause of the home- 



